General Review an Chapter 1

Question 1

What is facies?

Answer 1

A body of sediment with certain characteristics indicative of a depositional environment

Question 2

How much of earth’s surface is covered in sedimentary rocks?

Answer 2

90 percent

Question 3

What is the volume of sedimentary rocks in the crust?

Answer 3

less than 10 percent

Question 4

What are the top 3 most common rocks and what are their percentages?

Answer 4

Shale: 62 percent
Sandstone: 21 percent
Limestone: 13 percent

Question 5

How are sedimentary rocks classified?

Answer 5

texture and composition

Question 6

What are the basic sedimentary rock types?

Answer 6

Clastic rocks
Biogenic rocks
Chemical rocks

Question 7

How are clastic sedimentary rocks formed?

Answer 7

Through the breakdown, transportation, burial, compaction and cementation of previously existing rocks

Question 8

How are Biogenic sedimentary rocks formed?

Answer 8

Formed directly or indirectly through organic processes.

Question 9

How are Biogenic rocks classified?

Answer 9

Classified based on chemical composition

Question 10

Where are biogenic rocks commonly found?

Answer 10

Shallow tropical environments

Question 11

How are Chemical sedimentary rocks formed?

Answer 11

They are inorganically precipitated from solution, with no transportation and are typically very crystalline.

Question 12

What are Steno’s 3 principles of geology?

Answer 12

Superposition
Original horizontality
Lateral continuity

Question 13

What are the types of physical weathering?

Answer 13

Frost
Insolation
Salt
Wetting and drying
Stress release
Exfoliation

Question 14

What is frost weathering?

Answer 14

Repeated freezing and thawing of water particles in rocks

Question 15

What is insolation weathering?

Answer 15

Rock surfaces are heated by the sun which creates and thermal gradient within the layers of the rocks. This leads to cracks in the rock surface.

Question 16

What is wetting and drying?

Answer 16

Drying leads to contraction and absorption of water causes swelling and cracks.

Question 17

What is stress release weathering?

Answer 17

Rocks deep below the surface are under pressure which is then reduces when the above layers are eroded. This leads to cracks in the rock which are parallel to the topographic surface.

Question 18

What is exfoliation?

Answer 18

Peeling of the rock surface due to the release of pressure

Question 19

What are the chemical weathering Processes?

Answer 19

Simple Solution
Hydrolysis
Oxidation

Question 20

How does simple solution weathering work?

Answer 20

when a mineral dissolves into a solution completely without the precipitation of other minerals.

Question 21

How does Hydrolysis work?

Answer 21

moving around of H atoms

Question 22

How does oxidation weathering work?

Answer 22

loss of an electron leads to the formation of oxides or hydroxides

Question 23

What is the soil formation process?

Answer 23

Addition to ground surface
transformation
Transfers
Removal
bioturbation of soil

Question 24

How does addition to ground surface work?

Answer 24

Precipitation of dissolved ion of rainwater with solid particles and organic matter from surface vegetation.

Question 25

How does transformation work?

Answer 25

decomposition of organic matter leads to organic compounds

Question 26

How does the process of transfer work in soil formation?

Answer 26

movement of solids down from 1 soil horizon to another by groundwater percolation that leads to accumulation of soluble and suspended in the lower horizon.

Question 27

How does removal work in soil formation?

Answer 27

the removal of substances still in solution to become part of dissolved constituents in groundwater or surface water.

Question 28

What is the bioturbation of soil?

Answer 28

The disruption of soil by animals

Question 29

what are the soil horizons

Answer 29

O: surface of organic matter
A: dark colored organic matter that is decaying and mixing with mineral soil
E: less organic matter with fewer iron and aluminum compounds
B: Illuvial concentration of fine organic matter and clay. The original rock has been obliterated by soil forming processes.
C: Partly altered bedrock that is deeply weathered but unaffected by soil forming processes.

Question 30

What are the most common Paleo-soils?

Answer 30

Quaternary glacial/fluvial soils
occur at unconformities

Question 31

How to recognize paleo-soils?

Answer 31

Root Traces
Soil horizons
puncated by erosional surface
gradational change in texture, grain size, and color.
Various signs of bioturbation.

Question 32

What is a karst formation?

Answer 32

one rock that was previously connected that has dissolved apart

Question 33

What is spherical weathering?

Answer 33

fractures and joints in a rock that cuase the erosion to appear as spheroidal. Also known as exfoliation

Question 34

What is grust?

Answer 34

coarse decomposed crystalline rock

Question 35

What is saprolite?

Answer 35

Chemically weathered bedrock in the lower part of soil

Question 36

How does the type of rock affect weathering rate?

Answer 36

Different minerals weather at different rate
permeable rocks weather faster

Question 37

How does climate affect weathering rate?

Answer 37

Chemical weathering increases in wet climates with high temperature
Physical weathering increases in cold and arid climates